Players to Watch at Spring Training

Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees

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Japanese pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who garnered a $20 million windfall for his former team, the TohokuRakuten Golden Eagles, on his way from the Nippon Professional Baseball league to a 7-year, $155-million deal with the Yanks. The right-hander will make his first appearances stateside during spring training and no one knows what comes after that. The last time the Yankees engaged in a bid for a Japanese pitcher, they secured the rights to Kei Igawa, who spent much of his two-season MLB career on the bench. New York hopes Tanaka has more in common with countryman Yu Darvish, who has been dominant in two seasons for Texas, but he's unlikely to be that effective.